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1.9 Guild Thread
1.9 Guild Thread is a guild only thread for members who have The Arc as a way of fast leveling their Great Buildings, requiring at least a level 80 Arc to participate. This is a form of Powerlifting', with a core concept of “give as good as you get”. How it works 1.9 Guild Threads are for people with Level 80+ Arcs only. People with lower level arcs are not allowed to participate. People post the Great Building they want leveled to the thread. Other members on the thread than donate to lock the first through fourth spots. In most cases, guildies do this without making a profit. Only if they have an 81+ Arc is there generally an opportunity for a small profit. Most 1.9 Guild Threads stipulate a person must level their Great Building within 48 hours of it being posted to the thread. This way, participants get a return on their Forge Points sooner, and they are not locked up for days. Why participate While people may not make much FP profit, they can get a lot of additional Blue Prints and medals. They can also very quickly level their Great Buildings in ways they might not otherwise. In effect, a 1.9 thread is like self funding your GB except that you collect the FP rewards yourself and you collect them as if you have a level 80 arc, rather than at your own arc level. (You don’t collect your own BP or medal awards, of course.) Since the level 80 arc reward is substantial, this may make levelling your GB exceptionally cheap. For example, Arc level 50 normally would cost 2605 forge points, but using a 1.9 thread, it will only cost the owner a mere 58 forge points! Everyone else breaks even. Your GBs will potentially level several or even dozens of times a day! In comparison, a swap list is like self funding your GB but you collect the rewards at your own arc level (not arc 80). Simple self funding provides no rewards of course and putting your positions up for auction will be like self funding with some level of reward between arc level 0 and 80 depending on the general level of advancement / generosity of your friends, neighbors and guildmates and your ability to avoid snipers. Of all the methods, 1.9 is the most efficient typically by far, unless you happen to already own a level 80+ arc. Assuming your math is good, or you can at least use the calculator, the 1.9 list is also generally the most safe and reliable method for levelling up GBs. There is no trust required between you and your donor. If they contribute less than 1.9 and you had properly configured your GB so that a 1.9 bid and only a 1.9 bid will have lock, simply request another full 1.9 bid from the 1.9 thread. This will snipe off the underbidder with substantial loss to him and huge payout to you. Compare that to frequent problems with swap list donors not paying up, or the general unreliability or open market auctions. You are of course still free to list positions under the open market, if you think you’ll get paid more there. Active donors can expect dozens or even hundreds of recurring quest rewards per day by fulfilling the Cthulhu recurring quest over and over while donating forge points. AF donors can actually do two such at the same time by keeping the hibernate quest active as well. Variants There are often two variants of this type of thread. One is a friends only 1.9 thread, where only 80+ level arc people are invited to participate and everyone must be friends with everyone else. People drop their GB in and people donate. Some guilds may opt for a lesser payout such as 1.85. This allows level 70 arcs to be in the money, and may be required initially to convince dubious donors to participate. You may argue that the small (large) profit they make for each donation is an insurance payment to cover the possibility of loss. In reality the chance of loss is very, very low by design and recurring quest FP rewards should be enough to cover it over time. As members gain experience, they will come to the conclusion that the lower rate isnt necessary, and they would prefer the higher rate so their own GBs level up faster. Any such rate change is really a simple zero sum transfer of FP between GB owner and donor and even the 5% additional cost will increase the time of levelling up high level GBs substantially. Your arc 80 donors will come to prefer 1.9 to reduce this friction. They have other things like CCs or Chateaus to level up and would like to see costs low so that Return on Investment is high. Contrary to what appears at top, it is largely unnecessary to restrict a 1.9 list to just holders of L80 arcs. Those with level 70 or 60 arcs can contribute at level 80 sized donations reasonably cheaply. Moreover, there is absolutely nothing preventing even people without arcs from placing a properly locked GB on a 1.9 list. Should L80 arc holders donate when there is no possibility of reciprocity? Yes! Recurring quest rewards for FP spent make the whole thing quite profitable for the L80 arc holders. With advanced Chateau, goods revenue from recurring quests can be substantial and takes no land to produce. For this reason, it may be used to supply a side business for the advanced player selling advanced goods for FP at rates well below what others can offer. This in turn provides a cheap source of FP revenue which may be used to drive chateau and arc well above level 80, a virtuous circle. The key here is to drive volume through the 1.9 list which in turn means bringing as many people as possible on board. This also works out reasonably well for non-arc holders, because they are paid for their GB rewards at 1.9 levels instead of their own arc level, so in the long run is usually substantially cheaper than alternatives like swap lists and self donation, especially above GB level 20. Criticism The transitions from self donation or swap lists to 1.9 can be a little challenging for new users. Stuff to plan for when setting up a 1.9 list: * Low level arc holders are likely to initially believe they “can not afford” to donate at 1.9 levels and so will not. Consequently, they will reap few blueprint rewards and may find themselves running out and unable to progress their GBs. This decreases volume and turnover on the list, and may even result in a haves vs. have-nots war in your guild since nearly all the BP are flowing to the subset with high level arcs. The solution is to take note that blueprints for positions 4 and 5 on a GB are quite cheap even at 1.9 levels. Also the number of BPs awarded does not ramp down anywhere nearly as quickly as FP, so the low positions are quite inexpensive. In some cases, players will consider themselves lucky to get 5th place at only 1.9. In addition, they should be made to understand that 1.9 lists tend to set pricing expectations for the rest of the GBs in a guild with active 1.9 list for positions 1-3, including those GBs that do not get added to the 1.9 list. In addition, external snipers will have similar expectations. We may therefore expect all the places to be sold at or near 1.9. In contrast, swap list participants have little control over how much they pay per swap and so tend to lose out in these contests. As losers, they probably end up paying more than 1.9 for the rewards they do collect. Once participants come to understand that 1.9 is probably they best deal they are going to get, lower level arcs will start contributing too. Discourage alternative solutions like arc circles, because the participants are surrendering 1.9 efficiencies. Arc circles that feature equal contributions tend to end up sniping GB owners with oversized commitments. * Most players will need to use a calculator to figure out how much to donate to guarantee lock on a position. This is even true for experienced players with a good mathematical background as a means to avoid expensive computation errors. If the goal is high volume, errors will start to add up. The calculators can be a barrier to some particularly math-averse guild members. The commentary at top omits that all positions advertised on the 1.9 list must be at lock -- if the 1.9 bid is made, it is not possible to be out bid, because there are not enough unbind points left on the GB. This must be a hard requirement, which is why the calculator is necessary. * if someone deviates off the 1.9 pricing structure, the calculators tend to be less useful, and you may be figuring out locks by hand. * Some polite guild rules about overbidding guildmates may have to be suspended. The 1.9 list sets the price of the position at 1.9. If a guildmate lowballs with a mere 1.7 bid (even outside the 1.9 list), he is in effect sniping his own guildmate (the GB owner) for the remaining 0.2, unless the guildmate is free to seek a 1.9 from someone else. This sets up a 1.9 over 1.7 snipe which will leave the 1.7 lowball donor in tears. (The GB owner should be quietly gleeful about this, however, since the GB level should be pretty much finished out at that point.) As long as polite rules about overbidding guildmates on GB positions remain in force, the 1.9 list can not function correctly due to lowball guildmate sniping and GB levels will stall out. This severely undercuts volume and will make the 1.9 list less valuable to everyone. In addition the situation places your guildmembers at the mercy of snipers from your neighborhood who are in general quite happy to snipe a 1.7 bid, placing your guild at a disadvantage. The low-ball bidder must be recognized for the parasite he is. Snipe him off a few times and he will stop. * You really need a cadre of at least 4 active L80 arc owners for 1.9 to function. If your guild hasn’t reached that point, consider befriending an outside player or two to fill out the list. * Players can be endlessly inventive about syntax they use when posting and claiming GB positions on the list. This can be a problem, since some methods can be ambiguous or may tend to omit other player’s postings. It is suggested you approach 1.9 activity like bidding in the card game bridge, with a limited vocabulary that is clear and simple, with little allowed deviation. Sample Thread Rules: # All contributors to a 1.9 thread agree in advance that they will contribute 1.9 times the reward and only 1.9 times the reward to buildings posted to the 1.9 thread unless a private arrangement exists between GB owner and donor. Such a private arrangement may be necessary, for example, to compensate the donor for a mistaken overbid on a earlier GB level. Another common variant might be a private agreement between GB owner and 1st place donor to limit the 1st place contribution to half the total GB cost temporarily until after 2nd place is filled, then increase the amount contributed up to 1.9 in a manner designed to prevent the availability of profitable snipes by neighbors on later positions. In this way, the 1st place Donor is taking on the usual responsibilities of the GB owner in managing snipe risk, because the GB owner cant for GBs in the level range 30-75. # Since donors expect to make no direct FP profit from the thread, the GB owner shall act in a manner to minimize the chance donors will incur FP loss. GB spots listed on the 1.9 thread may not simultaneously be advertised in other threads such as a one intended to alert guild members about GB levels finishing out soon, or a swap thread. This is to prevent bidding collisions that would cause two contributors vying for the same prize to mistakenly snipe one another. # Any GB position advertised on the 1.9 thread shall be a lock for a 1.9 donor. That is, once the 1.9 contribution is completed, there is no mathematical possibility for any other player to outbid the 1.9 bid, including those who have already contributed to the GB. (This occurs when the number of FP remaining before the GB level is complete is less than the number of FP needed by any competitor to outbid the 1.9 donor.) It is the responsibility of the GB owner to ensure this is the case. If an incorrect post results in the donor being sniped, the GB owner must compensate the donor. Please see the Tools section below for a calculator to help determine how much the GB owner must contribute to ensure lock. The GB owner may advertise several positions on the GB at the same time provided that once the largest position is claimed, the next largest will be a lock for 1.9, and so forth. It is common to advertise up to positions 1-4 in this way on GBs near level 50. # The GB owner should finish off GB levels with 1.9 contributions promptly, so that the donor FPs can be reused for new GBs. It is expected a level should take no more than a few days. # Sometimes guild members get a bit aggressive and make bids out of sequence or off thread and then argue that they deserve some special protection from sniping because it was a 1.9 bid. It is not an official 1.9 bid unless the owner advertises it as such on the 1.9 list and the donor claims it on thread. Other contributions of 1.9 times the reward shall be interpreted to be simple competitive bids and shall receive no special protection. Since a well formed 1.9 position that is advertised on the list must also be a lock per rule 3, it is not possible for a true 1.9 contributor to be sniped, except in the case of a collision, which the GB owner shall endeavor to prevent. Consequently, if there is a dispute, probably someone didn’t live up to requirements and the thread history can simply be consulted to see whether a true 1.9 thread contribution occurred and then resolve the problem accordingly. Usage Example: '' Arc 1,2 ready'' (GB owner signals that positions 1 and 2 are a lock on his arc) '' I’ll take 1'' (he should wait a moment to see if anyone also claims spot 1, and then once it seems clear he has reserved the position, then proceed to contribute 1.9 times the 1st place reward.) '' position 2 for me!'' (Donates enough for 1.9 times the second place reward) ... a little while later GB owner receives some more FP and adds enough to make position 3 a lock: '' Arc 3 ready'' '' taking 3'' .. the GB owner then opts to list positions 4 and 5 on another thread for competitive bidding, since he thinks he may get more than 1.9 there. Positions 4 and 5 should therefore not be posted to the 1.9 thread. Infrequent summaries of open spots are valuable: '' Pending:'' Dave arc 3 2 Tutty-Fruity SV 4 DoomMonger CdM 4 3 Optional Rules: # (Error checking) The GB owner must also post the expected contribution to lock each advertised position. This is a feature of the foe-tools calculator and is easy to do. In addition to helping out donors, this helps provide confirmation the GB owner has consulted the calculator and is not winging it. Only positions that are locks may be listed. # (High throughput) The syntax is strictly limited to: “ ready”, ” ”, and “Pending: “ for advertising, taking and summarizing positions respectively. Too much innovation in this department by guild members eventually leads to ambiguity and costly mistakes. It should bed discouraged. Placing links to GBs just clutters he thread and doesn’t achieve much that clicking on the persons picture doesn’t also accomplish. Tools * GB Investment - The Arc